E3 Impressions: Zubo (DS)

While you may not see it in Resistance 2, Gears of War 2, or even Wii Sports Resort, one of the emerging themes from E3 this year is reformatting traditional genres for a younger crowd. Beyond Ubisoft’s Ener-G lineup there’s Defendin’ de Penguin which boils down real-time strategy for kids and EA’s impressive looking rhythm/RPG for the DS, Zubo.

A new property that EA is hoping to grow, Zubo sucks players into the colorful world of Zubalon with its pill-shaped Zubos who are about to be overrun by the evil king Big Head and his army of clones, the Zombos. Yes it’s silly, but the story ties together a dazzling display of turn-based combat mixed with Ouenden-style rhythm gameplay. Only instead of tapping on circles you tap on your actual characters as an outline closes in on their form. The better your timing, the more damage you do.

The game promises over 50 Zubo characters to meet, recruit, nurture, and train and over 100 comically animated attacks to pull off. Plenty of mini-games and a 3D world to explore outside of combat will hopefully expand on the experience. But what’s really hooked me are the visuals; the game looks downright incredible!

The cinematic camera angles during the combat really give the game a fresh look and make the comedic attacks genuinely funny. You can keep your Bahamut, I’ll take a good ol’ ice cream slap-from-the-hand any day. That really zings! Check out the developer talk-through for some slick animations and silly physical comedy attacks.